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Jackson
Jackson was a British diplomat who played a major role in the events of Biggles in Borneo. At the time of the book he had served in the diplomatic service for ten years in Southeast Asia and was a consular officer in Manila when the Japanese attached. When Manila fell, he had tried to escape in a pearling lugger but had been captured and brought to Cotabato in Mindanao where he met two downed U.S. Navy aviators, Bill Gray and Pat Flannagan. Jackson was placed in the prison camp at Cotabato which was a compound surrounding the civil prison. Among the prisoners there were two women, Mary Stockton, daughter of a British diplomat and also Jackson's fiancee and Doctor Harding, an American doctor. Jackson later escaped from the prison camp with Gray and Flannagan. During the escape, it had been Jackson's intention to rescue the women as well but the alarm had been raised before they could reach the women, who were being held at a separate house away from the prison compound. Jackson, Gray and Flannagan stole a sailibng boat and attempted to reach Australia. However, when sailing down the coast of British North Borneo, they were discovered and pursued by a Japanese patrol boat. Fortunately the Japanese boat was spotted and sunk by Biggles and the others on their first patrol out of Lucky Strike. Short of food and water, the trio had turned inland, proceeding upriver in their boat but Japanese troopsin canoes continued to pursue them, guided by a Kawanishi E7K seaplane. Forty miles from Lucky Strike, their plight was spotted by Punan warriors in the jungle and the news transmitted to Lucky Stirke. Ginger suggested packing a survival kit with food and medicines to be dropped to them. Biggles agreed and took Ginger up in a Beaufighter while Captain Rex Larrymore and Suba led a rescue party to try to reach them overland. The Beaufighter found Jackson's boat under attack from the Kawanishi seaplane and promptly shot it down. Ginger then parachuted down with the supplies, meeting Jackson, Gray and Flannagan, who had come ashore after their boat had been sunk by the seaplane. By the next morning, the Japanese pursuers had almost reached the Ginger and survivors but were destroyed by Suba's warriors and the Beaufighters just in time. Jackson and the others were then carried to Lucky Strike by the Punans, an overland trip through the jungle taking two days. Following his rescue, Jackson elected to remain at Lucky Strike to help. He was keen to help Biggles plan a rescue operation on Cotabato, as he knew Mindanao and Cotabato well, having served as a British Agent in the city for two seasons some 18 months ago and knew every inch of the area as well as the people there. General Barton, an U.S. Army general was being held in Cotabato, but Jackson wanted, in particular, to bring out the two women prisoners. Accepting Jackson's help, Biggles sent him to Darwin with Angus to make his report and persuade Headquarters to agree to a rescue operation. To make the case more persuasive, Jackson told Biggles he would mention that Cotabato was also one of the main ammunition and stores dumps for a proposed Japanese attack on Australia. Jackson and Angus were successful and returned to Lucky Strike with a Cayman amphibian and permission to proceed with the rescue. By that time, Algy and Ginger had gone missing, having baled out over Talut Island while returning from a reconnaissance of Cotabato. Biggles had overflown the crash site and found it occupied by a group of Japanese soldiers. Now with the amphibian, Biggles intended to return for a closer look and possibly capture a Japanese soldier for questioning about what happened to Algy and Ginger. Jackson, who spoke Japanese, went along with Biggles to act as an interpreter and learnt, among other things, that the two had been taken to Cotabato. During the rescue operation, Jackson was part of the shore party assigned with the specific task of freeing the two woman prisoners. Although he was acting alone he succeeded and brought the two women to the rendezvous in good time--the book does not describe how he managed it. Jackson, together with the two women, General Barton and some others were in the first Cayman flight to Lucky Strike. The rest of the freed prisoners were piled into a pearling lugger which Jackson had borrowed from a local firend of his. The lugger was towed to an island away from Mindanao where the passengers hid while awaiting subsequent ferry runs of the Cayman to bring them to Lucky Strike. At the end of the book, Jackson followed Biggles, Bill Gray and Pat Flannagan to Australia for a well-earned rest. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:WW2 era characters